Nutritious November

A member of a Facebook group I'm also a member of, has set herself the challenge of feeding her family on £100 a week throughout November. I love the idea of setting yourself a strict budget and being inventive.

I used to meal plan religiously, bake everything going and feed us all for peanuts. Then fusion occurred, cue laziness, then my job happened, cue less time for baking (excuses I know!). Then juicing became a way of life (for me, not my family) and I became even less inspired in the kitchen.  Cue easy (dull) one pot meals.

WELL NOT ANYMORE!

For the month of Nutritious November, I pledge to feed my family the best food I can for £80 a week and I'm going to blog the entire thing. Oh yes Clanettes, I'm going to shop around for the best deals, keep track of my expenditure, whip up a veritable feast in the kitchen. And log it all on here. The good, the bad and the hungry. You KNOW you love it.

I'm in the fortunate position of going into November with a well stocked larder, and a good amount of meat in the freezer. We eat a good mix of supermarket own and value brands, and the only real rules I'm setting at this point are:
1) All meat and eggs will be of a good welfare standard
2) Any corner shop 'tops ups' will need to be emergency only, the cost scrupulously recorded and then deducted from the weeks allowance.
3) I will use mysupermarket.com to do all my shopping and save money!

So the 01st November is a Friday. We have been at my parents this week, and I have spent some time looking at the supermarkets and their delivery 'options'. My usual supermarket of choice is Tesco, this is more out of habit than actual preference. In the Uk the 4 main supermarkets that deliver shopping are Ocado, Sainsburys, Tesco and Asda. I think of Ocado, I think Waitrose, I think expensive. I know they brand match, but that doesn't help when you don't necessarily buy branded food.. Sainsburys I think is more expensive than Tesco, and I always think of Asda as being cheaper than Tesco.. I like to think Tesco offers value at a snobby band higher than Asda. It is time for me to lose my pre-conceived supermarket ideas and actually go back to each website with fresh eyes.

Sainsburys
Their byline reads 'Get FREE DELIVERY any day on orders over £100 delivered between 13 October and 1 November. Orders below £40 will be delivered for a £6.95 charge. You could still get delivery from £2.99 - £6.49 when you spend just £40.'

Asda
Here the deal is an introductory 'delivery saver' price of £15 for 3 months. Usual price is £24.

As many deliveries as you need over 3 months. Choose any Groceries home delivery slot. Minimum order value £40. Great value – the same as £5 per month – no auto renewal. Standard delivery on ASDA direct and George. Or choose a one month Asda.com delivery pass for only £8. Use your pass on groceries immediately and use on George.com and Asda Direct in 24 hours.

Tesco 

Tesco 'Delivery Saver' starts at £7.50 a month for delivery anytime on Tues/Weds/Thurs. Choose any delivery slot on the days your plan is valid regardless of cost. Pay upfront or spread the cost with monthly payments. Minimum order value of £40 with up to one order a day. Priority access to Christmas.

Ocado
Upon logging into Ocado, the first time this year, they offer me a monthly 'Smart pass', where the charge for delivery on a Tues/Weds/Thurs is £2.99 a month, for a minimum of 6 months. Bargain! It then lists 776 items that I can have for discounted price by purchasing the 'smart pass'. My minimum order value is £40.

Waitrose
Well now. Waitrose want to offer me £5 off my first £75 shop, £10 off my second, £15 off my third, £20 off my fourth and £25 off my fifth £75 shop... If I shop 4 times before 17th December, they will give me a £25 voucher to spend in January.. TEMPTING!! 

HOLY COW. Deliveries from Waitrose are FREE. Minimum spend £50.

So at this point in the plan, Waitrose and then Ocado wins. Hands down wins on their 'Smart pass'. But what will mysupermarket.com say once I shop for my food - will they still be cheaper...?
I'm on the edge of my seat Clanettes!

October

This has been a frugal month for posts Clanettes! Apologies! I can promise I am going to remedy this in November with a couple of challenges/projects... Watch this space!

In the mean time, have a photo update of the last couple of weeks...

Running in the park with the kidlets - not as hard a run as when I'm on my own, but we all get a run round and some fresh air. Ideal!

Experimenting with peanut butter cupcakes. A hit! Peanut butter is my alllll time favorite thing to eat. Full stop.

Lochie was 'invested' (officially joined) our local Beavers group. Beavers is a pre-cursor to the Scouts.

I have been killing it in the gym - with direction from Paul!

We went out for a family meal and I was delighted that we were all happy to try something different - Wagamama's (pan-asian!) was a winner with everyone.

I have set myself two new PBs this month. I ran 3.5k on the treadmill (With Lucy, just seen here running on the treadmill next to me!)

And I have run for 20 mins straight. Both of which are firsts post fusion. I believe I may have written on Facebook 'IN YOUR FACE SPINAL FUSION!' 

 

The girls chose their annual Christmas party dresses - I love matchy matchy - I also love love love leopard print!

 

Vikki, Elle, Becky and I went out for dinner for Vikki's birthday - I drank too much wine and laughed a lot!

So Clanettes, Samhain tomorrow, out with the old, in with the new and a lot of blog posts coming your way! Until next time, thanks for reading xxx